2020 Democrats make case to unions, working-class voters

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International President of the Service Employees International Union Mary Kay Henry speaks at the National Forum on Wages and Working People: Creating an Economy That Works for All at Enclave on April 27, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Las Vegas (CNN)The 2020 Democratic contenders showed up in force at a labor forum on Saturday to outline their plans for raising wages and court the all-important constituency of labor as they seek foot soldiers for their campaigns.

It is a constituency that was once strongly behind Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, but in this crowded field of 2020 candidates, none of them are willing to cede that ground.

They came to this early caucus state Saturday armed with plans to fight for a $15 minimum wage, expand Medicare-for-All, unravel right-to-work laws, and to pressure corporate titans to pay more to Americans who are trying to patch together a living wage with two, and sometimes three, jobs.

Among the forum's questioners was Jennifer Berry, a McDonald's employee in Milwaukee who told California Sen. Kamala Harris on Saturday that she makes $9.90 an hour. With a two-week paycheck of $514, she said she must also rely on government assistance, including Medicaid, food share benefits and Wisconsin's housing program.

"In our America, nobody should have to work more than one job, so let's talk about our values," Harris said at the forum held by Service Employees International Union and the Center for American Progress Action Fund. "You can't go around talking about the golden arches as the symbol of the best of American when you are not conducting yourself in the best way in terms of supporting the working people of America."

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Harris added that Americans "deserve to have a wage that allows them to keep up with the cost of living."

"We can talk about a minimum wage — of course, we need to fight for $15 — but really that's a minimum, that's a minimum standard of living," she said.

In her closing remarks about America being at an inflection point, she told the forum that "people are woke ... the challenge will be to harness that energy and to organize" to get people to the polls.

"Are you telling me that the billionaires are not in favor of my being President of the United States?" the Massachusetts Democrat said. "Damn, you just upset every plan I had -- I'm shocked. Gosh, I guess I might have to do it by getting out there, getting people organized, fighting for working people and persisting. We can win. We dream big, we fight hard. That's how we win, it's these folks."

Earlier in her speech, Warren talked about making government work for the people.

"How do we get the change to fight back?" she said. "There are a lot of places where we need to be in this fight. For openers, how about we do it through the Department of Labor? How about we say we want (a National Labor Relations Board) that's actually on the side of labor? And we want whenever employers interfere with the rights of workers to organize, to bargain collectively then we want an NLRB, we want a Department of Labor that comes in on the side of the workers and puts a stop to it."

Former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke was asked by moderator Steven Greenhouse how he would convince more conservative voters in his home state of Texas that a $15 an hour wage is a "good idea."

"When one job is enough; when you can focus on what you're doing at work and don't have to worry about the next job or the third job that you're going to in one 24-hour period, your productivity at work is going to be so much greater," O'Rourke said. "That business owner is going to get so much more out of that employee."

O'Rourke said that in Texas, nearly half of public school educators are working a second or third job "just to make ends meet."